Secrets
by indigowaterbears
Summary: Zola accidentally reveals something, late one night, while her aunt Maggie is babysitting. Just a few thousand words overflowing with secrets and babies.


The date had been fun. Not as fun as the first or the second, or like that time he drove her all the way to Portland and back in a night. Not as fun as the first time they slept together again. It was a date, after months of dating it was just a date. Actually, it was more than that, Meredith had to work, Amelia had spent almost every night with the kids this week, and she needed a break. She loved those kids, she did, but they were not her kids. Owen had saved her by taking her out, nothing fancy, just dinner. Amelia was way too tired for a whole dinner and way too hungry to go to the movie's, so Owen had knowingly taken her to an ice cream place where he'd let her have anything she wanted. Not that he was her father or that she usually let him tell her what she could and could not have, but recently she'd began to compromise. He'd gotten all weirdly protective and spent most of his time hovering, apparently he seemed to think he was entitled to it. It wasn't that Amelia didn't like him keeping an eye on her and tending to her and going a little Cro-Magnon on her, it was nice and comforting and, in a way, it made her feel safe and loved. The problem was when she'd sit at the dinner table, or tried to have lunch at the hospital and he'd take away her fried chicken and her fries and her cheeseburger and her pizza. Those were _so_ good. For some reason he thought he had a right to tell decide what she put in her digestive tract only because she was carrying around – as he liked to call it – some of his genetic material. As if they lived in a world bound by blood spells or some other idiotic thing that could in any way explain that.

Despite how early on in their relationship it happened, he was happy. No, not happy, he was ecstatic, over the moon, more excited than Zola on Christmas day. She went with it, his happiness was her happiness and most days it was enough to ignore her past, to turn a blind eye to the memories. Her fears, her worries, her nightmares were all still there, poking right below the surface, but she was managing them. Owen helped a lot. He wasn't just understanding, he'd even called Addison to make sure he knew how to handle the situation, to be sure he knew what she needed. Amelia had felt her heart swell at that and had promised herself to make a real effort with him, to be open and honest and not to drown all those feelings that were constantly dragging her down, beneath the surface. If anyone asked, they were happy. Moving things slowly, but all the while making sure nothing was left behind. So, when tonight she'd been tired and cranky he'd eventually elected to take her back home, knowing she might feel better watching a movie with Zola, curled up on the couch and, when she'd fall asleep right in the middle of it, he'd wrap her up in a blanket and when it ended he would carry her upstairs to bed. He was around enough that the kids had both started calling him Uncle Owen again. Amelia and Meredith had spent an insane amount of time trying to explain how he and their Aunt were dating, but not living together, now – at least Zola – seemed to get it and seemed to be okay with it.

When Amelia found out she was pregnant it was Zola who knew first. They had both been home with the stomach flu, one that Zola had presumably brought home and passed on to Auntie Amy. On their second day of quarantine Zola had run to her crying, worried she had a baby inside of her tiny belly. Amelia had laughed not understanding the connection, so when Zola explained how her Mommy got sick a lot and then she had a baby, the smile on her face faded. Scared out of her mind Amelia had taken a test and when it came out positive and her niece found her crying she'd spilled the beans. It was touching how such a little girl had such an understanding of life. She had smiled, hugging her aunt and had told her that it was okay, that this house was big enough for her baby too and that she'd help, like a big sister. It was their secret. When the time had come to tell her that Uncle Owen was the father of her baby, she distanced herself from her Aunt. It turned out, eventually, that she was mad at the fact that this baby was going to have a father but she didn't anymore. It was a mess. Amelia was crying, Zola was crying and Meredith was crying. It was an evening Owen remembered fondly – once everyone was asleep in bed and the house was silent.

They made their way through the front door and Amelia didn't even bother to take her shoes off, while she went straight for the couch. Zola was sitting there watching the Lion King and Amelia sat down next to her. Immediately, Zola curled into her Aunt's side and Amelia's arms went around her almost automatically. A few moments later Maggie, who was the babysitter tonight, came to sit on the couch on the other side of Zola.

"Thank God you guys are home." She sighed. "Bailey and Ellis together were getting to be a bit too much." Glancing into Amelia's understanding eyes, she continued. "I guess they're still not used to me. As soon as he saw Owen he stopped yelling and voluntarily put on PJs and went to bed."

Amelia shrugged her shoulders, petting Zola's hair as she watched the movie. "I know what you mean. I'm almost never alone with them anymore. It's too much. Wait until Ellie will start to walk and then it will require an army."

Maggie nodded her head, eyebrows raising and eyes widening in horror at the prospect. "I guess it makes you think twice about being a surgeon and having kids. It's not impossible, but I could never give my job up and a child needs more than a few hours a day before bed. Honestly I don't know how Meredith manages all of it, I was about to give up right before Owen showed up. And I never give up."

Amelia nodded thoughtfully. It was more than a good point, it was an excellent point. Her and Owen skilfully avoided talking about these serious things, not now, not when they still had to tell the board. Not when it wasn't an actual problem, something they had always done and that had always ended badly. Amelia's eyes fell unconsciously to where she knew, underneath her woollen sweater there was a definite bulge on her belly. Not too big, but it was getting big enough that she'd switched scrub size to hide it. She cleared her throat. "I suppose. It's all about priorities, Meredith puts the kids first and job second and does her very best. It seems enough."

She glanced sideways at her. The effort she'd made to fit in and be a part of this family was admirable, but like everybody else, it is hard to understand the pain and loss when you're new to it. Amelia was used to that, she was so used to that it almost confused her when something actually turned out right – this was part of the reason she was trying so hard to limit the attachment that she was unwillingly developing to the growing human in her uterus. Maggie was Meredith's sister, they were both trying to make that work. The little progress they were making was showing already, but sometimes she couldn't help but feel the awkwardness surge. Her and Maggie on the other hand were getting on much better, much more smoothly, the pressure was far less and they were perhaps more similar – at work, both department heads not even ten years out of their residency. Dealing everyday with people who didn't think they were worth their title and dealing with the tight knit family they had stumbled into. That helped in building what was becoming a good friendship.

"You're right. I mean, I'm not even dating, I don't even know if I ever will make it to having kids." Maggie breathed out defeated. Amelia felt like laughing, at herself. "I'm old enough that my parents expect me to be married and here I am, not even able to keep a few dates going. By the time I'll reach that stage my body will probably have stopped working."

Amelia thought briefly of Addison, but soon realised this was far different. "Yeah, but I don't think you're ever really ready to have a child anyway, it just sort of happens. By the way, whatever happened to that guy? The radiologist?"

"He wanted to move in together. After three months." She wrinkled her nose and sighed. "Maybe I should have."

Amelia shook her head and smiled at her, lowering her voice mid-sentence when Zola shushed them without turning around. "No, trust me. You should never let a guy push you into something you're not ready for. It's dumb. Find someone who's willing to wait for you."

Maggie shrugged helplessly, smiling sideways at Amelia. "Not every guy is like Owen. He's good."

"He is." Amelia felt a huge, wide grim stretch over her lips and her eyes were beaming in pride and her heart was beating fast. She'd never felt this way about someone she wasn't related to. "Just don't give up. We've all kissed a lot of frogs."

They both smiled at each other and fell into a comfortable silence, eyes glued to the tv. Amelia was listening to the voiced upstairs, she couldn't hear words, but she knew Owen was telling Bailey a bed time story. That little boy loved it when Uncle Owen told him bed time stories. Owen never told him about fairy tales or princesses and princes or warriors, he told him storied of when he lived in the desert, or when he helped his Daddy build a house, or when he saved someone at the hospital. Bailey was constantly mesmerised by those. She couldn't help but think about what kind of stories he was going to tell to their baby. Babysitting her nieces and nephew was good enough practise that neither was fearing parenthood from the practical point of view, the rest of it still felt scary and unknown, but according to all the parents around that was a feeling that never left. Not even after college. Owen was going to be a good enough Dad that she had plenty of space to screw up. Not since she'd decided that losing her child didn't mean she didn't want kids had she thought about what kind of mother she'd be. She had the best Mom anybody could ask for and yet she was a mess, out of five kids one ended up being a mess. A doctor mess. So, really, there was so far her mother could have done for her, she was probably born like this.

All of a sudden, she felt Zola stiffen in her arms, turning her head into her side, away from the screen. Amelia looked down at her niece, not knowing what was going on and rubbed a comforting hand down her back. "Hey, Zola, sweetie, what happened?" She shook her head against her, her little hands coming to cover up her ears. Amelia looked at Maggie, who just shook her head, as confused and at loss as she was. When she tried to move her, disentangle her from her, so she could get a better look at her, the little girl tensed and burrowed further into her side. Looking back up she met Maggie's eyes and they just looked at each other, unsure of what to do. "Zola, do you want me to call your Mommy?"

Zola shook her head, never looking up or lifting her hands from her ears. They were both a little taken aback at the sudden reaction. "Are you tired? Do you want to go to sleep?" Maggie was rubbing her shoulder, taking over for Amelia due to the weird angle of her arm, given their positions. It was unusual and especially Zola would rather fall asleep in front of the tv, than stop a movie halfway through. As they assumed she shook her head again.

Amelia was tired, exhausted. The kind of tired that some times made her irritable and snappy. She unwrapped her arm from Zola and, with a finger under her chin, she gently turned her face up. Still, she didn't open her eyes. They were squeezed shut. "You have to tell us why you're upset, otherwise we can't help."

When she opened her eyes, though, Amelia felt a stab in the chest at her harsher words. They were big and teary and sad. "He's going to kill Mufasa." Amelia frowned. She'd been ready for a lot, but this she didn't get. "Then Simba won't have a dad anymore."

 _This_ made sense. Considering the Lion King was not a movie she'd watched more than a few times with her older nieces and nephews and maybe once or twice with Henry, she hadn't made the connection immediately, especially because when she'd turned her eyes to the tv her mind had been somewhere else entirely. She pressed her niece's head to her shoulder and kissed her head. "You don't have to watch that. We can skip forward. Is that okay?"

Zola nodded, to the adults' relief. She'd been handling Derek's death remarkably well, but Amelia knew. She was too young to be handling anything. It was at these times that sometimes even Meredith had no idea what to do. Luckily for her, Amelia had first hand knowledge of what she was feeling like. When they had moved to Meredith's old house, the change had been a bit too unsettling for the older kids and, while Bailey tended to be clingy and overly attached to Meredith, Zola had taken to wandering down the hall to her aunt's bedroom and slip under the covers with her. Not only Amelia didn't mind, but she was starting to form a deep, strong bond with the girl. They had started sharing stories, Amelia had confessed that her dad had died too when she was Zola's age so, it became their thing. She would ask her Aunt to tell her stories of when she was little and her Dad died, but some other times she'd just ask about her own Dad. Zola turned into her arms and looked over at Maggie, whom she knew was her Aunt as well, but was still calling by her first name. Which was okay with everyone. She gave a look, as if to ask if it was alright, Zola knew that tonight Maggie was in charge and was incredibly respectful of that. However, when Maggie nodded and smiled warmly, Zola turned back to the tv, looking pensively at the still frame of Simba. Both Amelia and Maggie were looking at her expectantly.

Zola bit her lip in a way that was all hers, typical of when she was concentrating or particularly nervous. She turned her head up to meet Amelia's eyes, looking away anxiously when she looked down at her. "Can you tell me about my Grandpa instead?"

Amelia smiled and pulled her closer, noticing Zola's atypical shyness, probably due to Maggie's presence there with them. "Of course, you know you can always ask. What do you want to hear?" but Zola was still looking around, a bit hesitant, switching between holding onto Amelia's sweater and catching Maggie's comforting gaze. Realising what her niece's dilemma likely was, Amelia squeezed her to her, leaning down a little to mock whisper into her ear. "Do you think we call tell those stories to your Aunt too?"

Zola then nodded eagerly and sat a bit more in the middle, between her two aunts. "Can you tell me the story of the watch?"

Amelia sighed. It wasn't the complete story of course, she'd wait at least ten or fifteen years before she'd tell her or her siblings about the watch. It was one of Zola's favourites right along with the one when she was born and Derek and all her aunts came to see her. "On their anniversary your Grandma-"

"No, wait, I changed my mind." Both adults chuckled, confusing Zola and making her roll her eyes at them. "Can you tell me when you and Daddy and Aunt Lexie saved your friend?"

Sure, why not. This was another story she usually got the censored version of. This time, though, Amelia was never going to share it in its entirety. Not the tiny little details of it. Amelia started telling the story of how one of her friends had something really bad in their brain and so she came up to see Derek to help save her.

"Like superheroes." Exclaimed Zola, looking at Maggie. "You know Aunt Lexie helped too? They did a super hard thing to save Auntie Amy's friend and they made it."

Amelia's eyes shined. She didn't think she could love this girl more. She was perfect. It was kind of heart breaking to thin that her friend, the one with the brain tumour had died. Zola's Aunt died. Her brother and Zola's dad died. "Yeah. Remember what happened?"

Zola looked up at Amelia, as if asking if she could tell the story to Maggie herself and, after a brief nod of permission from her Aunt, she turned eagerly and started telling in an endlessly adorable dramatic voice the rest of the story. Her version of it. "They took all the blood from her brain and in a minute they fixed her head, they had to be really, really fast because then she would die. But she didn't because they're the best ever."

"That's right, Zo." Amelia held up her hand and Zola smacked hers on it, a high five to celebrate that success, even if she had had no part in it at all. In the rush of excitement Zola jumped up and threw her hands around her Aunt's neck, hugging her tightly. Amelia's arms went around her instantly and she planted a big kiss on her niece's cheek.

After a couple of seconds, though, something clicked in Zola's mind and she pulled away, sitting back in her Aunt's lap, pushing as far as she could without falling off her – and the couch. She had a frantic look in her eyes and her chest started heaving. When she looked up to meet her aunt's eyes, Amelia was lost. From being happy and excited she now looked scared out of her mind. Zola swatted away Amelia's hand when she tried to pull her back closer. She moved jerkily and glanced a couple of times in the direction of the stairs, checking if someone was coming down. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Auntie Amy. Mommy said to be gentle and now I hurted the baby." She started crying, tears falling from her eyes and snot running out of her nose, sobbing inconsolably.

Amelia sighed in relief, for a second she thought Zola had realised the same thing she did, that she was the only one left, the only one still alive from that little story, both her Aunt Lexie and her Dad were dead. Fortunately, Zola didn't think like that yet, she didn't count the people who died in her life like that. Amelia breathed deeply. She could handle this. Taking a hold of her niece and pulling her back to her, laying her head on her chest, she rubbed circles on her back trying to calm her down. "It's okay. Everything's okay. Mommy was right, but you were gentle, alright? Nothing happened-"

While she was whispering calming words into her ear, Zola had managed to calm down and had opened her eyes, seeing Maggie. Her dark eyes went wide and worried and she hastily pulled her head from her aunt, looking up at her with fresh tears in her eyes. "It was s'posed to be our secret and now I ruined it."

Amelia smiled, avoiding Maggie's eyes. She loved her niece, but she had a big mouth. Meredith had been happy about the baby, genuinely, not just because it was going to be her niece or nephew. Maybe it was all the hormones still in her body, but she'd been open and forthcoming. Zola's excitement had been contained by explaining how the baby was very, very little and it could be easily hurt. She'd been treating her aunt as if she was made of glass, scolding Uncle Owen when he hugged her too tight. Smoothing the hair on her niece's head Amelia waited for her to look up, their noses were almost touching, and she whispered. "How about we tell your Aunt Maggie? That way it won't be a secret anymore, uh?"

Zola tentatively turned to Maggie and opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything. She wasn't sure about this, she obviously wasn't entirely convinced she hadn't hurt the baby, she definitely wasn't sure about telling her secret. She turned back to Amelia, who nodded encouragingly, so Zola took a deep breath and looked into Maggie's eyes. "I'm going to have a cousin."

Although exaggerated for Zola, Maggie's reaction wasn't at all fake. All the cheerful, happy, perky her eyes were showing had been brewing since Zola's little slip of the tongue. Before looking up at Amelia she looked at her niece and, even though her eyes were still teary, she had a big proud smile on her face. "You are? That's so exciting. Are you happy?"

Zola nodded vigorously. "Yeah. But it's not coming for a really long time. It's too little now and it gots to grow in Auntie Amy's belly." She added patting her aunt's baby bump gently enough.

"Wow." Maggie smiled broadly and finally looked at Amelia, bumping her shoulder lightly and jokingly. "Congratulations, you guys."

"Thank you." Amelia replied shyly, feeling her cheeks heat up. Apart from Meredith she was the only one who knew and she had not been completely sure she was ready to start telling people. If Zola could inform the hospital board for her it would be great. "It was a little unexpected and definitely unplanned, so we decided to wait a little longer before…" she waved her hand, letting the meaning hang between them as she wrapped her arms back around Zola.

Maggie nodded understanding and smiled. Amelia saw it in her eyes, saw how different the two of them were. "This house is going to be so full of babies. It's going to be just wonderful." She said casually, with a dreamy look in her eyes.

Zola looked between the two adults, feeling a little left out of the conversation. She was trying to understand what they were saying, but she just couldn't follow. Not at all a fan of being ignored she turned to her Aunt. "Can I feel the baby?"

"Of course." Amelia lift her sweater up, the curve of her stomach was much more evident now that it was only covered by a stretchy top. The last couple of weeks it had a growth spurt and if before she just looked fat, now it was turning more and more into a baby bump. Considering this was her second pregnancy she was always a bit bigger than the first time around. Ever since it became noticeable, with what she wore around the house, Zola had picked up the habit of touching the baby, Bailey was still pretty oblivious to it all, but she was very protective of it.

Zola traced the outline of the bump with her hands and stared at it intently. "How big is it now?"

Amelia smiled. To explain a little better what was going on they had been telling her how big the baby was with fruit. "It should be about as big as an apple now."

"Oh, that's big." She looked up surprised. She'd missed the last couple weeks of fruit and she'd jumped from peach to apple. Apparently, that was a lot. Not as big as the jump from raspberry to lime. She was still a little confused on the mechanics and timing of pregnancy. "How much more does it have to grow?"

Amelia yawned. She couldn't explain pregnancy to a five year old now. More to the point, she didn't want Meredith to come home and have to answer all the questions Zola still had. Eventually she figured out a way to distract her for the time being. "It has to be as big as a watermelon to come out."

Zola's eyes widened hilariously. "That big?" Amelia nodded. "But it's going to take so long."

Both Amelia and Maggie chuckled at Zola's huff. Their little girl talk was, however, interrupted by Owen, who came into the living room carrying Ellie. He narrowed his eyes and stopped a few steps away from the couch taking in the sight in front of him. Zola was sitting on Amelia's lap, her hands roaming around her aunt's growing baby bump. He eyed Amelia, wondering what happened to keeping it a secret a little longer, which had been her decision in the first place. Maggie Pierce was family, in the sense that they were related – rather she was related to Amelia's nieces and nephew – but to him people like Callie and April and Arizona, hell even Bailey, felt more like family than her. When Amelia caught his eyes, though, she smiled, nodding to Zola who was too engrossed in poking her belly to notice. He let out a breath satisfied with the explanation and sat down next to her, carefully handling the baby. "I think she's hungry and also I think she doesn't want to be held by me."

Amelia was tired, growing a human and working full time and being a part time live-in babysitter was all a bit too much. Not even all the ice cream in the world could fix that. She missed completely how Owen was awkwardly trying to get her to hold the baby, she missed how uneasy he felt while Maggie was there. She was exhausted. Luckily, Maggie wasn't and happened to be very perceptive. "I'll get her bottle ready." She stood, walking a couple of feet away and then turning, as an afterthought. "Hey, Zola, would you like to help me?"

Zola was about to say yes, but looked up at Amelia first, who nodded. Making a true effort to be super gentle she slid from her aunt's lap and followed her other aunt, trotting into the kitchen. Amelia let out a big yawn and pulled the sweater back down, leaning into Owen. She let her head rest on his shoulder and closed her eyes for a second, she would have for longer, but she felt a tiny hand grasping for her. Her eyes opened and she looked up at Owen, who gave her an apologetic smile and delicately placed the baby on her chest. "I'm so tired I could sleep for a week." She mumbled into his neck, keeping a hand on Ellie's back, more for comfort than anything.

He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I know, I know. I'll take you to bed as soon as Ellie's asleep. You know she doesn't like me much."

Amelia took a deep breath and looked down at her niece. It was surreal to think than in less than a year she'd have her own. The nagging voice in the back of her mind, the one reminding her that there were about a billion things that could go wrong before that, was silenced by the baby's sudden wails. She straightened her back, sitting up, shifting Ellie in her arms. There was nothing she could do to calm her, but wait for the bottle. The more agitated she got, the more she began flailing her little arms and legs around, to Owen and Amelia's amusement. Feeling a bit helpless, even though he was well aware of the situation, Owen put his big hand on Ellie's back, rubbing it calmly. For some unknown reason the cries subsided. The second his hand stopped, though, she got so mad that she kicked down hard, her feet colliding against Amelia's belly. Amelia gasped and sat up suddenly, keeping Ellie close to her chest, eyes fixated down to her lap. She was breathing slowly, eyes widening, lips stretching into a smile. Worried, Owen put a hand on her back, calling her a couple times, asking if everything was okay, but she couldn't hear him. Her hand travelled down to her belly and she moved it around a little bit.

"Amelia." He called worriedly. "What's going on?"

She looked up, her blue eyes were shining and her smile was so big Owen's pulse slowed at the mere sight of her. She shook her head, still half in shock. "It moved."

He frowned. Ellie had calmed down, despite being held in an awkward and uncomfortable looking way by her aunt, who seemed lost in her own world. Then he saw her hand, resting on their baby and he got it. She was talking about their baby. "The baby kicked?" he asked, his own eyes growing as big as hers, his smiled stretching impossibly wide on his face. Before she could even answer he placed his hand right over hers.

Amelia looked at Owen. "No. No, it just moved. When Ellie kicked me I felt a flutter and then again now." She smiled and looked up into his eyes. "You can't feel it on the outside, it's not strong enough."

"Our baby just moved for the first time?" he smiled. It wasn't really a question and he could tell, despite how distant she'd always been regarding their baby, she now looked as happy and excited as he did. He couldn't look away, he couldn't look away and for the first time in months he realised he was looking at the mother of his child, someone he'd lost hope of finding, someone he'd never thought he'd ever allow himself to get to know. Without even thinking he pulled her closer and kissed her, nothing fancy, his brain screaming at him there was Maggie in the house and Zola was still awake. So, really, it was barely more than just a peck, but he tried to say all the things he wouldn't get to tell her, because once they'd be alone in bed he was positive she'd fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Ellie, not too happy about being squished between her aunt and uncle and entirely not interested in whatever was going on, still hungry and desperately waiting for her bottle, started fussing enough that the two broke apart. Just then Maggie and Zola's voice became louder and louder and they could see their shadows approaching. Amelia put her hand on Owen's and swiftly moved it from her abdomen, turning to smile at him and whispered. "Let's keep this between us. If Zola knows it moved she's not going to let me live around here. So, let's just… keep it a secret until it's big enough to actually kick, okay?"

Owen chuckled, imagining how insistent Zola would be if she thought the baby could kick any second, she'd probably never leave her aunt's side. Kissing her head, he stroked through her hair looking down at Ellie, who was looking back up at him. She had the Shepherd's eyes, just like Bailey. When Amelia looked up at him, he wondered if their baby too would get them too. "Sure." Then his other hand went down to his niece and stroked her head. She was still bald, but according to Meredith she had Derek's hair, also according to Amelia it was entirely possible as she was born bald as well. "I don't think she'll tell."

Amelia elbowed him softly, she so didn't want to juggle the baby on her chest. When Maggie handed Amelia the bottle she sat back beside her, Zola climbing into her lap. Auntie Amy's was suddenly too crowded. Amelia was relieved to see the trip to the kitchen had been reason to bond and it meant she had a little space to breathe. She loved these kids so much, but they could be clingy, Bailey in particular. It was understandable and she would never deny them snuggles, or a hug or whatever they wanted because she was scared for them. They were going to grow up like she had, resenting the world for taking their dad away and Amelia knew what that could do to a person. Though, now that she was pregnant, her patience was thinner than usual and her exhaustion level made it really hard to be as good an aunt as she'd hoped, sadly when her baby would be here she'd probably be even less available to them. She looked down at Ellie, oblivious to it all, was right about to fall asleep with the bottle in her mouth. Amelia leaned her head on Owen's shoulder, never taking her eyes off the little baby, observing all her tiny features, remembering all those baby pictures her mom had of Derek and how she'd show them to Addison every time she'd came over. Derek would turn all red as a tomato, not used to being the hot shot neurogod he became, he was just a couple of years older than that weird band nerd with really bad hair. She looked so much like him it felt cruel.

In some strange twist when Owen felt her lean heavily on him, he had a feeling and when he looked down he saw that he was indeed right – she was asleep. Worried about Ellie wiggling out of her aunt's arms, his hand reached out to her, an added support should Amelia's hands let go of her. Ellie too was asleep. He chuckled and met Maggie's eyes, but she was looking down at Zola, who sat asleep against her. Owen gently took the bottle from the baby and put in on the coffee table, trying to move the least he could as not to wake either Amelia or Ellie. Maggie noticed and looked up at him, the shared amusement between the two caused smiles to form on both their faces, despite the awkwardness still between them, these unexpected moments were making it more and more normal for them to find each other sitting on the same couch.

She looked down at Zola and then back up at him. "I'll go put her down."

Owen nodded and watched as she stood, a little wobbly at first, trying to balance Zola's weight. So he was left on the couch with Amelia sleeping basically on him and Ellie asleep in her arms. If he took the baby Amelia would wake, also if he stood Amelia would wake. Waking Amelia meant most likely waking Ellie too and he knew she'd never fall asleep with him and Amelia was now useless, she was too tired to even walk up the stairs. Still, he couldn't carry them both at the same time, there was no way it would be safe enough for the baby, either one. So he turned his body, without shifting Amelia too much and lifted the baby from her arms, being extra careful not to wake her. Once he had her securely against his shoulder and miraculously still asleep, he scooted away from Amelia on the couch, laying her down on the whole length of it without waking her. Owen stood, admiring his work. He'd managed to disentangle himself without waking anyone up, this was good work indeed. He made his way up the stairs, praying the baby wouldn't wake, he'd put her down and figure out a way to get Amelia to bed. At least he was sure there was no way she'd wake up before the morning, sick and hungry and mad at him because her jeans didn't fit anymore. Owen smiled, when he'd found himself fantasising about starting a family, _this_ had not figured into his plans, not at all. Now, though, he wouldn't have it any other way, but he'd keep that a secret. For the time being.


End file.
